Hub Georgia, a local Georgian Non-Government Organization (NGO) specializing in transportation issues, has objected to the government's decision to award SkyBus (Kazakhstan) (Almaty International) a summer time domestic scheduled charter contract.
Between June 24 and until September 27, SkyBus has been operating 3x weekly Batumi-Tbilisi return flights using a CRJ100 under contract from the Georgian Airports’ Association under the Ministry of the Economy.
However, according to Central Asian Aero News, Hub Georgia has complained to the Prime Minister's office that SkyBus was never granted the requisite 9th freedom cabotage rights as required under Article #7 of the Chicago Convention. In addition, it questions why SkyBus has been allowed to operate within Georgia given that all Kazakh carriers, with the exception of Air Astana (KC, Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev), are on the European Union's Banned Operators' List.
"We appeal to the Prime Minister of Georgia George Kvirikashvili, based on the safety standards of passenger transportation, to immediately consider this issue,” the letter ended.
Currently Georgian Airways (A9, Tbilisi) is the only known local carrier to operate domestic scheduled passenger flights - Tbilisi-Batumi. These are, however, slated to end on July 27.
